Mandan Lions Club receives Charter, 1939

25 Years Ago – 1989
Medicine Shoppe will open Monday, May 22, at 401 First St. NW, next to Eye Care Professionals. The store offers prescriptions and health-care items only. The new pharmacist and owner of the store is Lynn Fricke Gustafson, a Bismarck native.

Lorraine Meyer, 17, Flasher, was named 1964 North Dakota Hereford Queen during the recent ND Winter Show held in Valley City. Lorraine is the daughter of State Representative and Mrs. Carl Meyer and is a senior at Flasher High School where she has been a cheerleader, band member and president of her class, the student council and the Girls Glee Club.

Jean Kruger, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Kruger, has been named valedictorian of the New Salem High School senior class. Earning salutatorian honors is Lori Christiansen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Christiansen. Both girls have served on the Student Council, the Annual staff, Pep Club and chorus and have been active in Peace Church of New Salem.

Deborah Schmidt of Bonanza District, rural Mandan, was elected secretary of the North Dakota Young Citizens League at its annual convention held in Bismarck. Deborah, secretary of her school YCL chapter, is a seventh-grader and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Schmidt. Delegates from 45 counties participated in the convention.

75 Years Ago – 1939
Mandan was officially welcomed into the realm of Lionism this week when 140 Lion members and their Lionesses attended a banquet and program in the Lewis and Clark Hotel’s dining room at which time the new club was presented its charter. Attending were representatives from clubs in the zone from Bismarck, Washburn, Glen Ullin, Beulah, Dickinson, Jamestown plus a members from the Lemmon, S. D. club. The meeting opened with selections by the Hi-Hat orchestra and by the Mandan Male Chorus.

After a welcome to all by Mandan Mayor C. G. Byerly, L. B. Booran of Lemmon, S.D., governor of district five, presented the charter to the Mandan Lions president Arthur W. Olsen in an impressive and ritualistic manner

LaVera Schmitt, daughter of Mrs. Marcus West, and JoAnn Smith, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Smith, received Girl Scouts’ highest award, the Golden Eaglet badge, at an outdoor ceremony held at Fort McKeen, south of Mandan. The two Mandan High School seniors joined three other Golden Eaglet recipients of the local Wahca Tinta troop: Eileen Clarke, Beryl Scothorn and Dorothy Dow.

Led by William Mushik and Miss Eileen Clark, a cast of 13 MHS seniors romped through the rollicking lines of “Big Hearted Herbert” to the evident enjoyment of an audience of more than 500. Presented from the stage of the Mandan World War Memorial building, the play was the annual presentation of the senior class and directed by Miss Jane Johnson, head of the drama department.

Seeking to curb the improper use of bicycles within the city limits of Mandan, the board of city commissioners has passed an ordinance providing the licensing regulations of all bicycles within the city. Registration cards and license plates will be issued at the police station at a fee of 50 cents for a one-seat bike; a dollar for a two-seated machine. Under the ordinance, riders will be prohibited from carrying any person on the bicycle; riding on any sidewalk in the city; operating a bicycle without lights after sunset; and operating a bicycle without a warning horn or bell (must not sound like a siren). Failure to keep the ordinance will result in licenses being revoked, bicycles impounded, a fine of not more than $100 or imprisonment of not more than 90 days.

100 Years Ago – 1914
“Between 30 and 40 automobile owners met at the Commercial club rooms last night to attend the annual meeting of the Mandan Automobile Club. The treasurer’s report showed a balance of $38.15 on hand. President Mackey read a report in regard to the Motor Vehicle Fund held by the county. There is $1,409.53 available, and it will be distributed around the county in proportion to the number of automobiles. It is the plan of the Automobile Cub to use Mandan’s share to improve the main roads leading to the city.

“W. A. Lanterman reported that considerable work had been done on the Riverside drive. Mike Cantwell has cut a road around the hill near the Fort Lincoln road bridge and has graded about a half mile of the road. This cut in the hill has to be widened and the road cut through to the Flasher bridge. The club also voted to pay $25 to the Commercial club as half of the cost of blazing the “Red Trail” which will be routed through Mandan to the west.”

“Fifty-five boys and girls took their first solemn communion at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Sunday morning. The procession began from the parochial school to the church at 8 o’clock, and the children marched two by two to the altar where they renewed their baptismal vows and received the solemn communion. Prayers before and after communion were led by the church’s first communicant, Miss Beatrice McQuillian.”

125 Years Ago – 1889
The village of Mandan was organized in the spring of 1881; just eight years later, statehood was the talk of the Dakota Territory.

“The presses of the pioneer have an insatiable appetite for paper. Today, there is a ton and a half at the depot, all to be used in printing the weekly Pioneer.

“The sheep industry is making remarkable strides in this county and more are coming. Messrs. Lanterman and Parkin are expected to bring in about 10,000 more sheep on their return from the west.

“Mr. Emory Sheppard was in yesterday from the Little Heart. He says that the wheat is growing an inch a day down in the Little Heart valley.

“A large chunk of lignite has been added to the exhibition at the depot as another specimen of what Morton County can produce.

“Mr. H. G. Voss’s growing law business has rendered it necessary for him to purchase a type writer. He got it in yesterday through the Pioneer agency. It is the newest and best pattern of the Remington machine and is a daisy.

“Mr. H. F. Douglas of Fort Yates has had the contract awarded him of running the mail route between Mandan and Fort Yates from July 1, 1889 to June 30, 1890. The remuneration will be $1,244 for the year. It is generally agreed that this a remarkably low figure for the work- six trips a week each way.”